National Geographic recently released their Earth Pulse State of the Earth 2010 features. Earth Pulse is comprised of essays, photo galleries, links to additional resources, and an interactive vital statistics map. The Vital Statistics Map allows users to view mapped displays twenty different sets of statistics. The data sets cover topics including population change, population migrations, and resource consumption. Users can select two data sets to compare on one map.

Applications for Education
The Earth Pulse 2010 Vital Statistics Interactive Map could be useful for lessons in environmental science as well as geography. Data sets displayed on the map could be the jumping-off point for student exploration into the reasons for the things they see on the map. For example, students could investigate why mutton and goat are consumed at a higher rate in North Africa and Australia compared to North America.